The following references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be and are not to be construed as statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the following prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but may assist in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention, of which the identification of pertinent prior proposals is but one part.
There is currently world-wide concern about the level of use of electrical energy for both domestic and commercial uses. In part this concern is based on the greenhouse gas production associated with the generation of electrical energy, and the contribution of that greenhouse gas to anthropogenic global warming. There is also a concern for the capital cost involved in building the electricity generating plants and electricity distribution networks required to generate and distribute an increasing amount of electricity.
A significant contributor to the energy use of households is the audio visual equipment including multiple devices such as televisions, television decoders, television recorders and sound equipment now found in virtually all homes.
Efforts have been made to reduce or control the use of energy by television receivers and associated audio visual equipment, in particular with the use of standby power controllers, and these have met with considerable success. However, the advent of cable and satellite television and digital broadcasting, a further device, the so-called set top box, has become commonplace. The power supply needs of this set top box are complex, and not easily discerned by a conventional standby power controller.